Watch out for false prophets.
—Matthew 7:15
War introduced us to camouflage. Battleships, harassed by elusive submarines, hid behind screens of smoke—camouflage. Guns were veiled in bushes, soldiers were covered with twigs and hay, vehicles were painted with designs to disguise their identity—camouflage.
But camouflage is older than war. “Nature is a vast system of imposture,” wrote Henry Drummond in Tropical Africa. Drummond had a close encounter with a puff adder concealed in leaves—camouflage. He almost sat on it, and to sit on a puff adder is to sit for the last time.
People also practice camouflage.
Some by pretending to be better than they are. Scribes and Pharisees were masters of this (Mt 23:27–28).
Others by pretending to be worse than they are. Go with the crowd: adopt their language and conduct.
Concealed in smoke
or light of the world?